


Not Dead for Long

by britishgaychild



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Choas ensues, F/M, Ianto is just desperate to see Jack but thinks he won't remember him, Jack is shocked, John is sick of everyone's romantic crap, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03 Fix-It, River is a queen, River kinda saves him, Series 03 Fix-It: Children of Earth (Torchwood), Temporary Character Death, They meet John along the way, Time Lord Ianto Jones, Time Travel, a bit - Freeform, i guess, jack is a lovesick puppy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-27 15:41:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30125061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/britishgaychild/pseuds/britishgaychild
Summary: River Song finds a stopwatch.It just so happens to belong to one Ianto Jones, who died 4 years ago.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/River Song, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, The Doctor/River Song
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	1. Prologue (but important)

**Author's Note:**

> Commitment, something I'm not good at. That's what this fic needs, I normally do oneshots because they're easier but I'm gonna try to keep this going. I don't have a writing plan, I just do stuff when I do it, sorry about that.
> 
> Also, I kind of go against a few minor rules but I needed to or the whole fic wouldn't work.

She had to have lost them by now, River had been running for what felt like forever, she doubted the guards cared about their artefact too much, they had no idea what it was really worth, stupid humans at UNIT had no idea that they were using this item completely wrong, it was in no way a weapon, but was actually an alien hairpiece with great worth. She reckoned the owners really missed it, that species spent ages on their crafts and this was likely to have taken years for them to create it to the perfection it was in. She reached into her pockets for the piece but as she felt around, there was nothing. It must have fallen out on the way. She groaned and slid down the wall. She had promised herself she would retrieve it but now it was gone and they probably had it back by now, no point in trying to find it. She huffed once again and there her arm over a wooden box she was next to. As she did this, River's arm pushed aside a little silver object. She took it to throw it at the dirty wall across from her in a petty attempt at getting over her frustration but paused when she saw what was embossed on the back of the watch. The writing was familiar, she knew it, she could read it perfectly. Gallifreyan, it read _The Archivist._

It was a name River had never seen before, she knew about a good few of the time lords but this one had never been mentioned, _sounds stupid_ , she thought. _What idiot would pick the name The Archivist? Must be some nobody._ She went to put the watch back down, it wasn't like there was another Time Lord hiding out there, the only one left was The Doctor. As she placed it on the box, it buzzed with a desperate feeling, any normal person would have simply left it where it was but River knew about these sort of things, the watch wanted her to open it, it was getting more and m ore desperate the further away she drew her hand. 

Giving up, she lifted the FOB watch once more and tried to open it with a rough, broken nail, she knew she shouldn't have tried to keep them long. When it didn't work, she pulled a penknife from her trouser pocket and used that to pry it open. When it did, her anticipation plummeted, nothing happened, she was about to give up and throw it again when a golden light burst from it and temporarily blinded her. It looked suspiciously like regeneration energy, and probably was, the thought. When she had regained her senses, the light had faded and the watch felt...empty. She knew she had to find The Doctor, he was the only one who would have any idea of what had just happened and who this Time Lord, _The Archivist_ was. River leapt to her feet and hopped out of the window, onto the rooftop, a plan forming in her mind as she fiddled with the controls on her stolen Vortex Manipulator, not knowing about the man who had just woken up with many new memories four floors down.

*

One second he was in the darkness, he had been for an unknown amount of time but it felt like forever. It was odd, normally he was good at keeping track of time, it was something he had often used to comfort himself, time going by, obviously being dead had an impact on ones timekeeping skills. He didn't need to worry too much though, as the next moment he was awake, the space was dark but not as dark as where he had been before, it was very closed in but the atmosphere was different, it was freezing cold and he felt air on his face. He was alive.

His impossible body heat as the energy reentered his body and filled it, starting his two hearts thawed out his form almost immediately, something that would kill any human and completely destroy their body in the process, but of course, he wasn't human, not any more, he was a Time Lord, The Archivist. But at that moment he didn't care, he was Ianto Jones, and he wanted to find Jack Harkness more than anything. He pushed his weight against his container with as much force as possible and when it slid across just a bit, Ianto pushed the wall surrounding and found himself in nowhere else than UNIT. Great.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't edited this so I apologise for any mistakes, I'm going over what I've got so far soon so bare with me.

Jack sighed and lifted his drink, closing his eyes due to tiredness. Why couldn’t this mystery person just show up and they could deal with whatever business they wanted to discuss. OR if they wanted to kill him, that would be fine too he guessed, as long as they hurried up and got here already; he had been sitting in this room at the back of this god forsaken space club for what felt like years. He decided that he was going to give them five more minutes before leaving and finding something more interesting to do. He was around three minutes through this countdown when he heard the doors dramatically crash open and a very familiar voice filled the room. A voice he definitely did not want to hear today. ‘Hello Captain, it’s been a while.’ He slammed down his glass and stared at the man who stood in the doorway with his hands on hips and a giant smirk on face. He would recognise that self obsessed idiot’s face anywhere. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’

-

‘Alright River, quit with the smirking, why in the name of the Universe did I move stars across space to get my attention and then make one of the most dramatic entrances in history? How did you even move stars? They are gas, they can’t be moved!’

River tilted her head slightly, trying to look confused but still holding that sneaky grin on her face. ‘Why, I just asked them politely. I thought that would be obvious, sweetie.’ The Doctor tried not to let the frustration show on his face as he changed the subject, not wanting to deal with her vague, impossible explanations for everything. ‘Well what did you want? It's not like you would show up to just say hello.’ 

‘You really think I don’t love you enough to do that?’ She joked but then put on a perfect poker face and reached into her pocket, taking out the watch and keeping it hidden in her fist so he wouldn’t be distracted by it whilst she was explaining, this regeneration did that a lot, he had the attention span of a two year old. ‘I was in the UNIT base in London, don’t ask why, it isn’t important. Now, I needed to hide so I went into this storage room of sorts. I guess it was full of possessions of dead people who had some level of importance. So I sat down near this box and found this watch. I picked it up and it...well it spoke to me. Kind of like psychic paper if you know what it is and what to expect. So I opened it, and there was this big, golden light that left it. It felt so powerful and exactly like regeneration energy but there was something else there too, like someone’s life force. I can’t quite describe it but I knew that the one person most likely to understand would be you. Do you...have you seen this before? Doctor?’ 

River had never seen him like this before and it terrified her, he looked distant and positively mortified. But as soon as she saw the expression he shook his head, muttering something about somebody being dead. ‘The watch, was there writing on it?’

‘Yes, yes, it was in Gallifreyan, that’s why I thought you could. I don’t think I’ve heard of the person it mentioned one before.’ 

‘The watch, is that it?’ he gestured towards her closed hand. River nodded. ‘Can I take it?’ she nodded and held it out to her husband. He took it warily and placed it in his palm. ‘Empty, it’s most definitely empty.’ The Doctor then flipped it over and read what it said. 

A beam spread across his face and you could almost feel the fear dissipate. ‘Oh,oh, wow, he’s alive! HA! Missing? Not anymore! Oh Archivist, I knew you were smarter than the others thought, I knew you wouldn't get caught. Of course you would hide, take that way out, you would hide and protect the knowledge you needed to for the wellbeing of all, oh boy, you ARE good!’ He was practically leaping around like an excited puppy and he rushed over to River and gripped her arms, his smile not faltering a bit. ‘Oh River, you clever clever woman, I’m not alone! And this time, I’m positively ecstatic over it!’ He hurriedly kissed her cheek and dashed over to the controls, opening a draw she was certain the TARDIS hadn’t shown her before and putting the watch in the hole in the centre. He slammed the draw shut and bounced over to the other side of the control panel and enthusiastically slammed several buttons and yanked at levers. ‘Hold on tight!’

Within seconds, they were being hurled across the Universe right into London. 

When they arrived, River looked at the screen that showed them Where and when they were. The Doctor hopped over and skimmed the text. ‘We are...exactly where you were before you came to find, 6 minutes after you left.’

She nodded and opened the door, not being able to get through as her husband shot past her. River had to admit she was frustrated that she had traveled halfway across the Universe to find someone when she could have stayed just where she was and found answers exactly where she was but at least the Doctor was happy.

-

Memories flooded Ianto’s mind, starting with peaceful ones of watching the stars and thinking about how everything he saw worked but then they got closer to the worst ones, the most recent memories of the Archivist, the ones from the time war. He tried to push them back as he climbed out of where his body was being stored and stumbled across the room, scanning the room for anywhere containing clothes. He finally found them, though he thought it strange that they would keep his clothes in the same room as hid body and that it was only his clothes that were there, then he realised that these weren’t even the clothes he was wearing when they died, but just looking at the suit, Ianto knew it was his. 

Straightening his tie, Ianto decided he would try to find someone that could help him first but then realised he could feel where one of his possessions was. It was like a scent, a trail. An image of the item appeared in his mind, a silver fob watch. He thought he had a good idea what it was and decided he would find that first, he might need it later. He followed the traces of the energy, getting past several guards patrolling the corridors as he did; as soon he found the watch, he would get out of here and Jack better not have forgotten him by the time he had tracked down. He ended up on the roof, where the trail stopped, he could not figure out what had happened but did sense a fair amount of artron energy where it stopped.

Just as he was about to give up and go back downstairs to find a way out, Ianto heard a noise. It was odd, Ianto had heard before and it was fairly recognizable to the Archivist too. It wasn’t a particularly pleasant noise, it was almost like somebody had left the brakes on but it felt comforting and familiar. In a few moments, a blue police box had appeared in front of him and a man with a rather noticeable wearing a ridiculous bow tie ran out of it, frowning as he looked around at his surroundings, then looking at Ianto with an extremely childish smile. ‘A roof? Why are we on a ro- oh, hello, I’m the Doctor, you don't by any chance happen to be the Archivist do you?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, what might happen next? Who do you think Jack met at the start? Hint: It's not Ianto, he's not that flamboyant and self obsessed. Any comments are really appreciated and remind me that people actually read the crap I spew.
> 
> I tried to make 11 as accurate as possible whilst also trying to show the fact that he knew the Archivist so I hope I did well there, I really don't know.
> 
> No clue when the next chapter will be up but I am planning it now so hopefully life won't interfere and it'll be up soon. I am also trying to think of things to write for TMWRDMJH so that might add something. Thinking of oneshots is more difficult than sticking to a single plot.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, you got this far. I hope you stick around for a bit longer for the rest. I'm just gonna take this where it leads me but I have a general idea of what's going on. Any feedback is appreciated and I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
